Chapter 1

Clouds like marshmallows were floating in the sky while birds were twittering in the woods. At noon on a gorgeous spring day, Liu Zixiu was crouching on a mound and having lunch with a big bowl in his hands, the hem of his robe lifted. Seeing his son from afar, Liu Wuyi couldn’t help yelling angrily. “Zixiu, how many times have I told you not to eat like that by the door?”

“Dad!” Not until then did Liu Zixiu see his father. He then rose to his feet slowly and bowed to Liu Wuyi.

“Come on in!”

“Okay!”

“What do you mean by ‘Okay’?” Liu Wuyi shot him a glare. “Yes, dad!” Zixiu immediately corrected himself.

Liu Wuyi let out a sigh with his head shaking slightly. What had happened three years ago came to his mind. His wife and son were caught in a storm and fell into the river on their way back to his wife’s hometown to visit her family. Though they were saved in time by the villagers nearby, owing to her poor health and the cold she had suffered in the water, his wife died soon. After seven days and nights in a coma, his son, Zixiu, finally woke up, but unfortunately, he lost his memory and even forgot his own name! Since then, Zixiu seemed to have totally changed into another person. The boy, who used to be rigorous, humble, reasonable and studious, had become a… “Alas! Forget it! I should thank God for sparing my son’s life,” Liu Wuyi thought.

As soon as they walked into the house, Liu Wuyi immediately caught sight of the food on the table, which he had left on the cooking bench to his son yesterday morning.

“You slept around the clock again?”

Zixiu was tongue-tied, for he had indeed slept for over 24 hours. Though he couldn’t remember the past, he could vaguely feel that it was how he had spent his days before—sleeping during the day and when it came to the night… it was always dark at night, so it seemed he could do nothing except for sleeping. As for his habit, eating by the door, it was formed completely because the weather was lovely outside while it was cold and dark inside the room!

Seeing his son in a trance again, Liu Wuyi couldn’t bear to scold him. He then walked into his own room. He had made some money by selling herbal medicine at the market in town this morning and was planning to find a matchmaker for his son tomorrow. Zixiu would be sixteen years old after the Tomb-Sweeping Day, so it was time to find him a wife. When he was lamenting about the passage of time, Liu Wuyi suddenly heard his son screaming outside. He immediately put away the silver ingot in his hands and rushed to the outer room.

“Ah! Ah! Ah—!” Liu Zixiu rushed behind his father while shrieking in horror.

“What’s up?” Liu Wuyi grew tense as well.

Liu Wuyi couldn’t help wondering whether the decision he had made was correct. Was his son really mature enough to marry a woman? As a medicinal herb collector’s son who had been brought up in the mountains, he was frightened out of his wits by a small black worm and even blurted out some words Liu Yiwu had never heard of before, like ‘caterpillar’! If the outsiders knew about it, they might laugh their heads off. Liu Wuyi wanted to put his son’s marriage on hold, but at the thought that the girl of Li’s family, the only one in the nearby area who could match Zixiu, was about the age of getting married, he was worried that she might become someone else’s wife if they didn’t hurry. Though Liu Wuyi didn’t like his son’s indolence, he had confidence in his talent and moral character. “No! I’ll take Zixiu to the matchmaker tomorrow morning!”